


Doctor, I've just killed a man,

by Dabberdees



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst with no happy ending at all, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 14:10:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16955550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dabberdees/pseuds/Dabberdees
Summary: “I swore, if I ever saw you again I’d kill ya.” said Graham, his gun still pointing at Tzim-Sha as his angers raises from the Stenza remarks.“And yet you falter.” Tzim-Sha interrupts “You are no warrior."Basically an AU where Graham did kill Tzim-Sha, and it doesn't end very happy.





	1. Chapter 1

In a blackened room, sniper-bots in bits around him, Graham hears the slow thud of boots coming and an anxious chill runs across the back of his neck and settles in his chest. He knows what is walking towards him and as he starts to turn a dreaded voice rings out.

“You should run.”

They stand staring at one another for what feels like minutes and slowly Graham raises his weapon. “I’m sorry, Ryan.” mutters Graham as he takes aim at Tzim-Sha “My wife died cause of you.”

“Good.” Tzim-Sha said in an indifferent tone. “I’ve killed many, yours wasn’t the first, she won’t be the last.” Graham tightings his hold on his weapon, his knuckles turining white and he remembers what Angstrom said on Desolation. The Stenza killer her wife as well and Graham’s decision is made.

“I swore, if I ever saw you again I’d kill ya.” said Graham, his gun still pointing at Tzim-Sha as his angers raises from the Stenza remarks.

“And yet you falter.” Tzim-Sha interrupts “You are no warrior, you’re weak, you’re entire species is weak. When I’m done killing you, I’ll kill your friends. Then your entire planet will die, and they will die because you’re weak and feeble.” he goads.

Graham holds his gun steady, the anxious feeling being replaced by anger and a need for revenge. His guns starts to weaver slightly in fear of the threat to his friends but quickly goes back towards Tzim-Sha. “I’m not weak.” he quickly adds as he powers up the weapon and shoots a surprised Tzim-Sha in the leg. Tzim-Sha falls to the ground in a heap and grunts in pain.

“Perhaps I misjudged you human, but it matters not. You will die here.” spits Tzim-Sha as he raises his hand but before he has a chance Graham has moved up and kicked his hand away. He aims his gun down at the Stenza for a second time.

 

There’s a panic running through Ryan as he makes his way back towards the stasis chambers. Graham should’ve arrived by now he thinks, he promised he would. He knew shouldn’t have waited as long as he did, he shouldn’t have trusted him in his emotional state and he doubles his pace but as he arrives in the corridor before the stasis chamber room he’s hears Graham’s distant voice “No, it’s you who will die here. With no one to mourn you.”

Ryan manages to run through the doorway and sees an injured Tzim-Sha on the floor “Graham, please don’t do it, stop.” yells Ryan but Graham is too caught up in the moment to recognise his presence and takes one last look at the Stenza 

“And as you die, I want you to remember one name. Grace.” said Graham as he fires the killing shot into Tzim-Sha chest, ending his threat once and for all.

The shot makes Ryan jump and he watches as Graham looks down at the gun in his hand and drops it, breathing a sigh of relief. He closes his eyes not noticing the look of horror upon Ryan’s face.

“It’s over Grace, the monster that killed you is dead.” Graham said quietly.

“And what about the monster stood in front of me now.” spits Ryan. Upon hearing Ryan’s voice Graham’s eyes snap open and he finally sees the horror on his grandsons face.

“How much did you see.” asked Graham quietly, slightly shaking as the adrenaline wears off.

“I saw enough, I watched you kill someone who was already injured.” snapped Ryan. “Did you not listen to a word I said? At all? You promised to come back and you didn’t, you killed him. You know Nan wouldn’t have wanted this. She wouldn’t have wanted you to become a killer.”

“He was going to kill you, the Doc, Yas, everyone, he wasn’t going to stop Ryan.” urged Graham. “He needed to be stopped.”

Ryan throws his hands in the air “Stopped? He was injured, we could’ve bought him to justice but you took it upon yourself to kill him, what gave you the right? You killed him in cold blood.” shouted Ryan.

“That’s not fair son.”

“Don’t son me, I don’t even know who you are right now because you aren’t the man my Nan married” said Ryan as he walks away from him “And I hope you got your revenge… Graham.” mutters Ryan, defeated.

“Ryan, stop, please.” begged Graham to his grandsons retreating form. He looks down at Tzim-Sha, he thought he would feel relief, but all he feels is a pain deep within himself. He knows he’s taken a step too far and one he won’t be able to come back from.

 

Yasmin and The Doctor are stood talking with the Ux when Ryan comes into the room breathing heavily and pacing around. He suddenly punches the wall and yells out while falling to his knees.

“Ryan, stop, what happened?” Asked a panicked Yasmin, as she runs to his side and places a hand upon his shaking form.

“The false creator is no more.” Andinio uttered looking at Delph and The Doctor.

“We felt him die.” Delph added.

The Doctor stares at the Ux as she hears someone approaching the room that they are in. She turns around to to see Graham, walking slowly into the room. “Where is Tzim-Sha Graham, and if you’re going to say what I think you’re going to say you better be able to explain why.” said the Doctor.

Graham lingers near the door frame, eyes dark “I…” he stumbles upon his words and stops. Everyone accept for Ryan is looking at him.

“Doctor, Graham, what’s happening?” Yasmin said looking between the two while holding onto Ryan.

The Doctor turns and looks at Graham but before she can answer Yamin’s question Ryan speaks up “He shot him in cold blood, Doctor, I watched it with my own eyes. Tzim-Sha was lying on the floor, injured and he shot him a second time.”

There’s a sharp gasp from Yasmin as she covers her mouth while The Doctors face darkens. She stalks towards Graham, her face becoming cold “You should’ve listened Graham. You crossed a line that can’t be uncrossed and I meant what I said before, what makes you any different from him?”

“He was a monster, Doc. He threatened everyone here, he locked all those people up and he was responsible for Grace's death. As far as I’m concerned I did the universe a service.” said Graham, anger overtaking him, how dare The Doc compare him to Grace’s murderer. “And I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

“You killed someone, you already won the fight, he was injure but you still took it upon yourself to be his judge, jury and executioner. That’s murder.”

“It’s not murder Doc, we didn’t deal with him properly in Sheffield and look where it got us. Countless people have died because we couldn’t finish the job back in Sheffield. I wasn’t gonna take that chance again so I ended it here.” said Graham, voice lowering but not backing down.

“Don’t try me Graham, you will lose.” threatens The Doctor.

Yasmin, sensing that this will turn increasingly hostile steps between the two “Doctor, Graham, please stop. We still have people we need to make sure are safe, we can discuss this on board the TARDIS. This isn’t the place.” and she gestures towards the exit.

“Oh, we’ll discuss it on the TARDIS.” said The Doctor, not looking away from Graham "I was being serious with you earlier Graham, you went above my head, I warned you and you still did it. I can’t have you on the TARDIS with us, you’re a danger to yourself and to Ryan and Yas.”

The Doctor walks pass Graham and heads into the TARDIS with the Ux following behind. Yasmin hangs back and helps Ryan up as the pair of them look into Graham’s eyes. “You had to go and ruin it, Graham. We had a good thing going and you ruined it.” said Ryan as he pushes pass Graham. Yasmin just looks at Graham and shakes her head in disappointment before silently following behind.

Graham is left staring after them and as the anger and revenge dissipates, leaving a sour taste within his mouth. He goes to follow behind them and his hands lingers on the handle but he stops and heads in the other direction, he needs time to think and the long walk back towards Paltraki’s ship will do that. 

The Doctor watches Graham as he walks away from the TARDIS doors echoing what’s about to happen, perhaps she was too hard on him. She knew she shouldn’t have let someone, who openly admitted that he was running away from his grief onto the TARDIS. She was so hopeful that by placing him with Ryan, he would reconsider his course of action but unfortunately he let his need for revenge override his love for his friends, Grace, and most importantly; his love for for Ryan.


	2. Chapter 2

Within the confines of his ship, Paltraki is making sure everyone from the stasis chambers is looked after. Just as he’s handing a container of water to some of the more able bodied prisoners he hears the sound of the Doctor’s strange ship and gets ready to greet them.

The Doctor walks out of the TARDIS with the two Ux, her friends Ryan and Yas following closely behind. Paltraki notices one of her team is missing. “Where’s Graham? And what happened with Tzim-Sha?”

“Graham’s taking the long way round and Tzim-Sha, he's dead.” The Doctor answered “We can take these people home, save you the job and resources” she adds all too quickly.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m going to complete my mission. I take it Graham not being here has something to do with Tzim-Sha, judging from the expressions on your faces.” The silence answers Paltraki’s question.

“Take us with you.” added Delph looking at Paltraki, picking up on the sudden change in mood.

“Delph this is our home, we must stay here.” implored Andinio

“No, Andinio we have to understand what’s out there. Find another home and help these people. Our actions lead to their suffering.” said Delph, and to the suffering of The Doctor, Ryan, Yas, and Graham he thinks to himself.

 

Graham is making his way slowly towards Paltraki’s ship, he doesn’t want to go back to Sheffield, how could he go back to that house? After everything he’s seen and done, he can’t go back there to wallow in memories, watching Ryan coming and going from every adventure that he’s no longer welcome on. He knows his relationship with his grandson has gone bad, how could Ryan ever forgive him for killing in Grace’s name? It was such an easy thing to do, to take that monsters life but it wasn’t his call to make and after his long walk back to Paltraki’s ship it sits in his gut and doesn’t budge.

He enters the ship and hears the ending to everyone’s conversation. He stands in the doorway, waiting. The Doctor noticing that Graham has finally arrived starts to head back towards her TARDIS. 

“Right, Fam” she stops and pauses “Right, Yas, Ryan, Graham. We’re off, now.”

“Where will you go?” asks Paltraki, towards the Doctor but also at Graham. He can feel that there’s a change in atmosphere between the Team.

“Back home, we’ve got some stuff to drop back in Sheffield.” answered the Doctor not looking at anything in particular but on the mention of stuff Paltraki sees Graham stiffen and an idea forms in his head.

“We could always use one more pair of hands around here you know, most of these people are quite weak after being imprisoned. Could do with another person to help man the ship until we get to the nearest settlement.” Paltraki motions towards Graham. “How about it, you up for joining us Graham?” If he was in Graham’s shoes, he wouldn’t have hesitated to kill Tzim-Sha and he can’t sit by and let Graham join a crew that clearly holds some form of hostility towards him. He of course doesn’t know that Graham merely isn’t from here, he’s out of his time as well.

Team TARDIS all look at Paltraki. Graham slowly looks between him and his Team, well ex-Team now considering the withering stares he got back on the obelisk.

“That’s a nice offer Paltraki, but we need to head back home for now.” interjected the Doctor. “Into the TARDIS, all of you.”

Ryan and Yas start making their way into the TARDIS, each getting a small smile on their way in but as Graham starts to work towards the TARDIS Paltraki puts an arm out and stops him “I don’t feel it’s right for you to go onto that ship at this moment, if you come with us we could find some transport back to your home planet. Earth was it?” he speaks directly to Graham.

“It’s not as simple as that Paltraki.” said The Doctor “We have to get back, now.”

Graham is stuck looking between the two and he starts to make his way back towards the TARDIS but as he sees the disappointment on The Doctor's face he stops. He knows this will be the last time he’ll ever get to witness the wonders of the universe and with that thought he steps back. “I’m sorry, Doc, truly I am. I know I ruined what we had and I know I’ve ruined my relationship with Ryan but if I have to go back to that house and watch you, Yas, and Ryan go on adventures. I just won’t last.” said has he stares into her eyes. “I’m grateful for everything but I’m not going with you, I simply can't.”

“Graham, I won’t come back. This will be the last time you’ll ever see me, and more importantly Ryan, if you do this. That’s it. No second chances.” warned the Doctor.

“I know.” said Graham softly as he moves to stand next to Paltraki.

And with that she turns her back to Paltraki, the Ux… and Graham. She walks into the TARDIS without another word, her hearts sinking in her chest. She moves towards the console and starts to power the TARDIS up. Ryan and Yas, they notice that she was the only one to enter and as they hear the TARDIS engines starting up they realise that Graham isn’t coming.

“Doctor, what are you doing? He made a mistake, we can’t just leave him here.” said Yas, through tears. “Please.”

“He made his choice Yas, I’m sorry but he made his choice and I'm not going to force him onto the TARDIS.”

“He’s abandoning us then. After everything he did, he doesn’t even want to try and work it out?” yells Ryan, heartbroken that the man he trusted would give up like this. Maybe he didn’t actually know him all that well after all. The Doctor is silent as she walks around the TARDIS, she doesn’t trust herself to speak anymore.

Long after Ryan and Yas have gone to their separate rooms, does the Doctor allow herself to collapse to the floor and contemplate everything that happened. She pushed him too far, she knows that but she wanted her friends to be better than her. She should've been honest and explained that killing something doesn't make the pain go away because she’s killed and taken lives before, and in her anger at herself and her own failures she failed to understand his reasoning. It’s wrong to take a life but she shouldn’t have made the ultimatum, she should’ve stayed with him herself or made sure she actually finished the job all those months ago back in Sheffield, it would've been her burden to bare then. Not his. She goes back but the ship is long gone and so is Graham.

 

Graham watches the TARDIS leave with a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He gets to work straight away, trying to take his mind of the pain of watching his family leave. When his duties have been taken care off, it’s only then that he stops and sinks to the floor, tears falling freely as he looks at the picture on his phone, a picture of a smiling and happy Team TARDIS.

**Author's Note:**

> Dyslexic here, so any mistakes please don't hesitate to point them out :)


End file.
